Sundance Institute announced Documentary Fund Grantees

$590,000 of grant support has been provided to 18 projects from over 20 countries and territories across the world. Photo: Sundance Documentary applications

LOS ANGELES, California. — The Sundance Institute announced the latest cohort of its Documentary Fund Grantees. $590,000 of grant support has been provided to 18 projects in various stages of completion. The Documentary Fund supports the work of nonfiction filmmakers from around the world.

The supported projects are from 20 countries and territories across five continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America). This grant cycle focused on artists from historically underrepresented communities. This year, all of the U.S. films granted are helmed by at least one BIPOC (black, indigenous, or people of color) director. The Documentary Fund is committed to gender equity; women directors command 72% of granted projects. Additionally, 72% of grantees are early-career filmmakers working on their first or second feature films.

“Supporting equity in storytelling by elevating diverse cohorts is central to our mission,” said Hajnal Molnar-Szakacs, Documentary Film Fund Director. “Sundance funding can play a vital role in creating a space for freedom of speech, stimulating local documentary production and ensuring that nonfiction narratives from around the world are elevated.”

“This cohort of grantees reflects deeply artistic and personal storytelling, as they explore and reveal the contemporary human condition in all its complexity,” said Carrie Lozano, Director of the Institute’s Documentary Film Program.

Applications for the next round of funding are currently open and ends July 26. Grants are made possible by The Open Society Foundations, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and Luminate.

The latest grantees listed by production stage:

• Development:
  The Gardeners (U.S.A.)
  Director: Crystal Kayiza
  Producer: Crystal Kayiza
  
  Gross National Happiness (Bhutan, Hungary)
  Director: Arun Bhattarai, Dorottya Zurbó
  Producer: Noémi Veronika Szakonyi, Arun Bhattarai
  
  The Ship and the Sea (Mozambique, Brazil, Portugal)
  Director: Lara Sousa, Everlane Moraes
  Producer: Matheus Mello, Emerson d’Almeida, Joelma Oliveira Gonzaga, Elsa Sertorio
  
  The Tongue of Water (France, Cambodia)
  Director: Polen Ly
  Producers: Rithy Panh, Lucas Sénécaut, Thibaut Amri
  
  Under the Dance Floor (Hungary)
  Director: Sára Timár
  Producer: Krisztina Meggyes
  
  
• Production:
  Against the Tide (India)
  Directors: Sarvnik Kaur
  Producers: Sarvnik Kaur, Koval Bhatia
  
  Do You Love Me (working title) (Lebanon, Germany)
  Director: Lana Daher
  Producer: Lana Daher, Jasper Mielke
  
  Igualada (Colombia)
  Director: Juan Mejia
  Producer: Juan Yepes
  
  Inverse Surveillance Project (U.S.A.)
  Director: Assia Boundaoui
  Producer: Nouha Boundaoui
  
  Rising Up at Night (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Belgium)
  Director: Nelson Makengo
  Producer: Rosa Spaliviero, Dada Kahindo Siku
  
  Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Estonia, France, Iceland)
  Director: Anna Hints
  Producer: Marianne Ostrat, Juliette Cazanave, Pierre Jestaz, Hlín Jóhannesdóttir
  
  The Therapy (Israel)
  Director: Zvi Landsman
  Producer: Ori Szternfeld, Zvi Landsman
  
  Untitled (U.S.A., Canada)
  Director: Sura Mallouh
  Producer: Sura Mallouh, Laura Poitras, Yoni Golijov
  
  
• Post-production:
  Black Mothers (U.S.A.)
  Director: Débora Souza Silva
  Producers: Débora Souza Silva, David Felix Sutcliffe
  
  Hazing (U.S.A.)
  Director: Byron Hurt
  Producer: Natalie Bullock Brown
  
  Liquor Store Dreams (U.S.A.)
  Director: So Yun Um
  Producer: So Yun Um, Eddie Kim
  
  Silent Beauty (U.S.A., Mexico)
  Director: Jasmin Mara López
  Producer: Jasmin Mara López
  
  Untitled Muscogee Nation Documentary (Muscogee Nation, U.S.A.)
  Director: Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler
  Producer: Conrad Beilharz, Garrett Baker, Tyler Graim